It's Time For A Change

Can we have a serious chat about the Edmonton Oilers and how awful they look in the jerseys on the left? Ok, that sentiment might be a little harsh, but, if the Oilers want to wear navuy blue as a primary colour, why can they not bring back the Todd McFarlane-designed jerseys as worn by Ryan Smyth on the right? Otherwise, the Oilers should be wearing their orange jerseys at home while the blue alternates are mothballed because they're simply a terrible design. Yes, I'm opining, but this is my blog so let's roll with it.

When it comes to eye-catching designs, the Oilers don't have much to boast outside of the McFarlane jersey. That jersey was different than what the Oilers had worn in previous years, and it certainly turned heads for those that wore it. Todd McFarlane spoke to KISS 91.7 FM radio in Edmonton about it, and he made it very clear that the design wasn't to be a hockey-centric jersey.

"I wanted to design something that, even if you knew nothing about sports, even if you knew nothing about hockey, you could still look at it and go, 'I don’t know what it is, but it's pretty rad. You could walk down the street with it. That's it. That's all. That's how simple I think logos should be."

I would say that McFarlane accomplished that feat thanks to the fact that the jersey was one of the top-selling alternate jerseys of the era that saw other designs like the Burger King jersey worn by the LA Kings and the Fisherman jersey worn by the New York Islanders.

"The jersey broke NHL records for third jersey sales for number of units and dollars sold," said former Oilers' president Patrick Laforge. "As we hoped, it was a hit with Todd's followers as well."

I've never understood why teams who have popular merchandise decide to stop wearing and selling said merchandise. It makes no sense from a business perspective, and the Oilers clearly had found something that fans liked. It didn't help that with Reebok entering the picture in 2008 as the league's uniform manufacturer, all alternate jerseys were shelved as Reebok worked to outfit all the NHL teams in their new skin-tight jerseys. But it would make sense that the Oilers would return to their successful alternate jersey once Reebok allowed them, right?

"To me, third jerseys can be a little gimmicky," said Kevin Lowe, who was the Oilers' general manager at the time. "Having said that, you have to stay up with the times. You have people on the business side who have a good idea what people's desires are for the hockey club."

Instead, the McFarlane-designed jerseys and logos never saw the light of day again. It's baffling to me to think of how many McDavid or Draisaitl jerseys could have been sold with the McFarlane logo on the front, but I guess we'll never know because Kevin Lowe nor anyone else from the Oilers' front office ever put the McFarlane design back onto a Reebok jersey template.

Well, someone was bold enough to put the logo onto the Adidas template as a re-imagining of the Oilers' alternate jersey. Adam Spizzirri, better known as @Spitzdesigns on Instagram, took the McFarlane design to a whole new level by making it modern with the Adidas design, and this is everything of which dreams are made!

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It seems pretty elementary to me: bring back the McFarlane design if it looks as good as Adam Spizzirri made it look. I have an original McFarlane jersey, but I might be tempted to consider buying a new one if the Oilers came to their senses.

It's time for a change, Edmonton Oilers, because your navy-and-orange jerseys are tired. Bring back the McFarlane jerseys, turn up the volume to eleven, and go get yourself a Stanley Cup before Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are done in Edmonton.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!